Having heard their former captain booed by fans on Friday, Oct. 2 – fans who not that long ago chanted his name as a cheer, the Detroit Red Wings put aside the personal and focused on the professional.
They have, at least, a blueprint to focus on as they try to even out their record when they take on the Winnipeg Jets on Sunday (1 p.m., Detroit SportsNet) at Little Caesars Arena. That'll come without the pageantry that marks a season opener, one that this season was bound to be notable because of the situation surrounding disgruntled former captain Dylan Larkin. Having requested a trade shortly after last season ended, Larkin's introduction was greeted with boos that couldn't be drowned out no matter how fast arena operators dropped music into
the system.
Players not in the lineup are always part of opening night introductions, which would have made it even more notable had Larkin not taken part. So, there he was, in street gear, giving a short wave with his right hand in acknowledgement when his name was called.
"Dylan today, being part of the team, he wanted to be out there for the ceremony, so let me make that real clear," coach Todd McLellan said. "That's what our team has done for 101 years now, is put the players out there. And Dylan's explanation was, I don't want the rest of my teammates, the ones that aren't dressed, to not be out there. So we went out as a team and that's what we're going to do, we're going to do it as a team.
"Obviously he's got to live with the ramifications of asking for a trade. It's not comfortable for anybody. I feel bad for him, I do."
There were also chants of "Sell the team!" directed at owner Christopher Ilitch, as fans expressed anger over the absence of restricted free agent Simon Edvinsson and a summer marked by turmoil.
"Everyone has a right to express their feelings and we've just got to deal with it," defenseman and alternate captain Moritz Seider said. "I thought we handled it pretty well. Everyone gave it his best shot and that's what we're gonna continue to do. You should be professional enough, we all get paid to do our job."
It didn't look like anyone in red and white was doing their job the first six minutes, as they were outshot, 6-0, took three penalties and gave up a goal. Blame some of that on rust: The Wings hadn't played a meaningful game yet, while the Rangers were on their third in four nights.
"The first 10 minutes was one team that was playing their third game, another team that hadn't played in a week and got in penalty trouble right away," McLellan said. "So all of a sudden you're not getting the touches, you're 100% on your heels and you're just trying to defend. And then we got going. There were some good shifts, there were some ugly shifts in the game, but I thought our checking skills were good. We spent some time in our zone, a couple of extended shifts, but other than that we didn't give up a lot.
"Going the other way though, we're going to have to score some goals to win games and we had some looks, not near enough. So that's going to have to get polished up and the players that are here, they have to understand that. They have to expect it from themselves and from their teammates. You can't just rely on three or four guys because when they are dry, somebody else has to step up and we'll get that from them. I'm sure they're not happy losing the game, but I don't think it destroyed our spirit by any means."
Contact Helene St. James at Hstjames@freepress.com.
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Next up: Jets
Matchup: Red Wings (0-1-0; 0 points) vs. Winnipeg (0-0-1; 1 point).
Faceoff: 1 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 4; Little Caesars Arena, Detroit.
TV/radio: Detroit SportsNet; WXYT-FM (97.1).
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Detroit Red Wings 'feel bad' as Dylan Larkin booed, but focus on game
